THE BURYING BEETLE. 



93 



it on a soft spot of ground. I was about to add the frog to the 

 number of objects for sepulture, but have omitted that creature 

 because the porous nature of its skin causes it to dry up so 

 rapidly, that the beetle will seldom take the trouble of bury- 

 ing it. 



Sometimes, but very rarely, a pair of the beetles will come to 

 the bait by daylight, their wide wings bearing them along with 

 great speed ; but in general they prefer night as the time to 

 begin their work. If the bird be visited early in the morning, 

 it will be no longer upon the surface of the ground, but will be 

 half sunk below it, as though the earth had given way, just as 

 a piece of dark cloth sinks into snow. If, however, the bird be 

 removed, the cause of its gradual disappearance will be seen in 

 the form of one or two beetles, sometimes black, and sometimes 

 beautifully barred with orange. Then let the bird be replaced, 

 and a trowel carefully introduced under it, so that the bird and 

 beetles can be gently transferred to a vessel of earth and covered 

 with a glass shade. 



During the day, the beetles will mostly remain quiet; but in 

 the evening they begin to be active. To dig a hole, and then to 

 drag the bird into it, would be a task far beyond their powers, 

 and they therefore employ another plan. They entirely burrow 

 beneath the bird, emerging every now and then to scrape out 

 the loose soil, walk round the bird, mount it as if to see how the 

 work is proceeding, and then disappear afresh and renew their 

 labours. Sometimes they dig rather too much on one side, and 

 then they appear sadly puzzled, running round and round the 

 bird, getting on it as if to press it down with their weight, pulling 

 it this way and that way ; and at last they do what they ought 

 to have done at first, namely, disappear under the bird and 

 scrape away the earth until the hole is large enough to allow 

 the bird to sink into the required position. 



The beetle just mentioned conveys into its burrow the whole 

 of the substance on which the grub is intended to feed; but 

 those which we shall now examine select only a portion for that 

 purpose. There is a very large tribe of beetles, of which the 



